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USC Football: Break down of USC’s loss to Stanford

By Lamarr Fields

PALO ALTO, CA - SEPTEMBER 08: Colby Parkinson #84 of the Stanford Cardinal catches a pass in front of Greg Johnson #9 of the USC Trojans in the second quarter of an NCAA football game at Stanford Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CA - SEPTEMBER 08: Colby Parkinson #84 of the Stanford Cardinal catches a pass in front of Greg Johnson #9 of the USC Trojans in the second quarter of an NCAA football game at Stanford Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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The USC Football Trojans were unable to overcome a tough road game and lost to the Stanford Cardinal, 17-3, making the Trojans 1-1 on the season.

On Saturday, the USC Football Trojans lost to the Stanford Cardinal, 17-3.  In my last article, I gave my three keys to the game for USC to win. In this post-game edition, I will tell you why and how they failed at each key.

Containing Bryce Love

Bryce Love rushed for 136 Yards on 22 carries and one touchdown. USC did a pretty good job early at containing Love. As the game went on, Love started breaking loose, he broke a nice run for 59 yards by getting to the outside.

USC did a pretty good job stopping Love up the middle. Even with Love having a good game, the Trojans defense still played well enough to win — holding Stanford to 17 points.

Opening Up The Offense

The Trojans offense was too predictable and not creative at all. Freshman JT Daniels threw for 213 yards on 16 for 34 passing; he was sacked four times. The offensive line did not play well at all.

The play calling was questionable, too many short passes and not enough passes down the field. There was no movement to the offense, no receivers in motion, just too predictable. They need to take more shots down the field, call some rollouts to get Daniels on the move, especially with the way the offensive line was blocking.

Daniels has to be better. He threw a lot of questionable passes into coverage that should have been picked off. Both Daniels and Tee Martin, the USC offensive coordinator, need to go back to the drawing board and get more creative. You have to be more aggressive to put points on the scoreboard.

Get Off To A Fast Start

USC did not start off good at all. By halftime, the Trojans were already down 14-0. The defense played well while the offense had no clue what it was doing. Getting off to a good start is always crucial on the road, if you don’t it is hard to get going later, ask the USC offense.

Next. USC-UCLA roundtable. dark

Next week, the Trojans head to Texas to take on the Longhorns. They better perform better than they did against Stanford or the team will be 1-2.

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